Deaf Pounds.

I find myself having to crouch down and crick my neck whilst tolerating strange looks from the general public and seeing them wondering “what’s the matter with her?!” searching for the till display in more and more (little) shops and cafes these days as a lot of shops tend to obscure their price displays or do not have them on show at all which means many deaf people as a consequence experience problems with understanding staff vocally and get extremely un-necessarily stressed.

The law concerned is the invitation to treat. If you cannot understand the assistant and the display is covered then you can not respond to the invitation. They must have their price display in clear view – It is THE LAW that the till price is visible to the customer. The price must be visible at point of sale. Otherwise, this is actually against the Law.

Obscuring the “invitation” also gives them a way out in ripping people off….. Easier for market stalls to do this… One could try asking them to price their products as it would benefit them and their customers. I would also ask to speak to the manager and make a complaint to them – just to see their faces Once or twice I have tried to “inform” the shop assistant but got blanked… We are all learning something new every day and it is educational all the same. Businesses will only end up losing customers and remain oblivious to what’s at fault. A bit like radios in the *olden days* who broadcasted adverts for the deaf… and newspapers were advertising for the blind… it’s 2014 now….(!)

Hence the term “Deaf pounds” because deaf people do not want to go through the hassle of finding out how much a product is and more than likely, we will choose to put the product down and go where it is more comfortable or not at all. Therefore we save money! There also seems to be a stigma that deaf people want most everything for free which is another alternative definition to the term. It’s apparently the deaf way.

The people to complain to about the tills being obscured or not on display, if necessary are our local council Trading Standards Dept (see their websites) Alternatively we can report this as it is an offence and they are rather surprised that this is happening as it is a serious offence. The phone number to call is the CAB Consumer Helpline 08454 04 05 06

If you experience issues with your call being refused or unaccepted due to the fact there is a third party, please refer them to this link as it is a breach of the Equality Act.

One can also use this link to assist you with reporting a problem to Trading Standards.